A Sages Prodigy
by Naru934chan
Summary: Sarutobi was left devastated after the death of Minato but now his main problem (aside from the return of the dreaded paper-work-from-hell) is what to do with the bundle of screaming joy left behind. Perhaps Jiraiya can shed some light on the situation. Strong Naru. Rating is subject to change.
1. Chapter 1

A Sages Prodigy

**This story has been adopted by me from SAOFan22. I was previously acting as a beta for this story but after some unfortunate circumstances they decided to turn it over to me. **

**The idea for this story belongs to SAOFan22 and Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I own only the ideas which I feel best fit the storyline laid out for me.**

* * *

Chapter 1 – Off to a sorry start

In the aftermath of the Nine Tails attack on the Hidden Leaf Village, all was silent on the former battlefield until the piercing cry of a new born baby rang out through the stillness of the great village.

In the fresh clearing created by the majestic battle between the evil fox and their beloved fourth Hokage, stood the predecessor of the recently deceased: Hiruzen Sarutobi. In his day he had been one of the best shinobi to ever grace the battle field. Although he had never been as strong as _his_ predecessors, he had still managed to make a few names for himself; including the 'Great Professor' or 'The God of Shinobi'.

However, staring out at the destruction wrought by his students' young protégé, he did not feel much like a God of Shinobi.

The Kyuubi had managed to take out a small portion of the village before the 4th had managed to push back the wrathful beast; together they had made the surrounding area into little more than a massive crater staining the earth.

He stared sadly down at the bodies of their new hero - Minato - and his wife - Uzumaki Kushina. He knew that _he_ should have been the one to sacrifice himself, to seal the Kyuubi before Minato could give his own young life. He wished more than anything that he could go back in time and change what had happened, stopped the child from knocking him out so that he could have faced the fox.

But now Minato and Kushina were dead and Sarutobi had been left behind with a newly orphaned infant with a seal on his belly and no way of protecting the child from the events that were sure to follow. A controlled Jinchuriki gave a village great power and the loss of Kushina meant that Naruto would have to be trained in her place.

Hiruzen knew that the council of elders would be clamouring for the boy to be isolated from the village and trained as soon as he could walk; they wanted an obedient, skilful tool and he was loath to give them one. He would never do that to Minato's child.

The Third hurried towards the middle of the crater where the infant was still bawling his eyes out, sensitive to the negative energy of mass destruction that surrounded him for hundreds of yards in each direction.

The aged Hokage picked up the blonde (he's most certainly a baby Minato) and cooed to him quietly; patting him on the back and smiling when the crying lessened in volume.

The council would _not _have him. Hiruzen vowed then and there that h would do whatever it took to allow the boy to grow up surrounded by children his age and not forced into a career path without his own explicit agreement.

There was a shimmer of air accompanying the arrival of two ANBU: one wore a Dog mask with gravity defying silver hair and the other sported a Tiger mask and brown spikey locks.

"Minato sensei…" The dog masked ANBU choked out in a sob. This behaviour was very out of character for the young ANBU but Hiruzen turned a blind eye as the young man mourned the loss of his late teacher.

"Seal their bodies and return them to the village" the Third ordered softly, curling his arms tighter around the – now sleeping – baby and heading back towards the still standing tower.

* * *

Sarutobi frowned as he looked at his wooden pipe sitting innocently upon what used to be his old (still cluttered dammit!) desk. He would never puff over his successor's recently orphaned baby but after the stress of the day he was desperately craving some good old tobacco.

He sighed lightly wishing his advisors would shut up for a minute and think about the person instead of the greater good. He knew that if push came to shove he would put the well-being of the village over the individual…But this was about Minato's child, and they had plenty of choices regarding how to handle the situation.

Why on earth they were nattering on about telling everybody what had happened and then making it an S-class secret was anybody's guess. He was all for locking the truth away inside this room, allowing Naruto to grow up like a normal child and then telling the child when he was old enough to understand.

He knew that as soon as Danzo had found out what had happened he would want to adopt Naruto into his – disbanded – root system so that he could make use of the Kyuubi's awesome power; but Naruto was one child the Hokage would fight tooth and nail to protect from the old war-hawks greedy clutches.

He had just opened his mouth to inform the old councillors of his decision when the door burst open and _very nearly_ shot off its hinges. The loud noise woke the exhausted baby and evoked another round of waterfalls from the child's screwed up eyes.

"Jiraiya…" He ground out between his teeth, the stress of the day taking over his mind as he forgot the fact that Jiraiya had been out of the village when the Kyuubi attacked and would be unlikely to know about his student.

"Sensei? I saw-I thought I saw… Where's Minato? I saw Kakashi and he mentioned something about the Kyuubi, what happened to Kushina?"

Jiraiya's tone had become more and more desperate as time went on and by the end of it his eyes were suspiciously shiny. The sage had probably already realised that he wouldn't get a favourable answers to his query's.

"The Kyuubi attacked the village Jiraiya, we're not sure what happened but we know that something went wrong with the birthing process-"

"Naruto! Is that-"

Jiraiya's mouth snapped shut as he finally paid attention to the quieting cries emitting from the small bundle in the Hokage's arms.

"Minato and Kushina both lost their lives thwarting the Kyuubi's attempts at rising again.

Sealing the beast into Naruto was their only chance and now my advisors and I are deciding how best to keep the situation under wraps, isn't that right Koharu? Homura?"

"Now see here Sarutobi! We can't just leave everyone in the dark about the end result of all their hard fighting! People lost their _lives_ against that monster, and you're saying that their family members will not even gain some closure for their deaths?

"Eh? You-you IDIOTS!" Jiraiya roared, finally realising the situation he had walked into. "You want to make Naruto the scapegoat, let them pour all of their grief into him? You don't have a clue what that will do to a child, especially one with the power and hate of a bijuu roiling around inside of him."

"We'd just be giving them the truth-"

"You've never done that before! Why on earth would you start now?"

The conversation was getting progressively louder and Naruto's eyes were starting to screw up once more. Sarutobi suppressed the growing ache in the back of his head and interrupted the pointless argument.

"_Enough!_ This conversation is getting us no-where. The must do what is best for the village-"

Homura smirked and Jiraiya's expression quickly grew thunderous. Sensing an explosion as big as fire country herself, Sarutobi pressed onwards forcefully,

"But there's no reason it can't be the best for Naruto as well. We shall not reveal what has happened to the Kyuubi, only that he has been banished back to the shadowland" – which was where everyone had been told the Kyuubi had been banished to after Uzumaki Mito had died – "Naruto shall be housed with someone who knows him and where he comes from and shall be told the truth when he is ready.

Aside from that, not a word of today's events shall leave this room. Do I make myself clear?"

He stared hard at his advisors until they bowed their heads slightly in acquiescence.

"You both may leave. Jiraiya, I need to speak with you further."

When the door had closed behind the old coots Jiraiya let out a huff of air and slid bonelessly into the seat across from the recently re-installed Hokage, allowing his head to fall down heavily onto the desk.

"I can't believe it… he was supposed to – he was the one-"

"Jiraiya." The Hokage waited until Jiraiya's head lifted slightly from the desk, a red mark adorned his abused forehead. "I can entrust no-body else with this task.

The white haired Sannin frowned slightly before his eyes opened wide with shock.

"I can't do that! Me with a baby? He wouldn't last a day!"

"Jiraiya, you are the only one who can bring him up in the right way and teach him to harness the Kyuubi's power if it becomes necessary."

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed as Jiraiya continuously shook his head in a mixture of shock and denial.

"You have no choice in this matter, you can put your network on hold until he is fully aware and then you may take him with you on your travels. I will make this an S-rank mission for as long as he is under your care, you have no right to refusal."

Jiraiya struggled with words for a moment, looking like a man who had found himself caught between a rock and a hard place. Eventually his head slammed back down on the table again and he let out a long, low pitched groan.

"I should be careful with what you do to yourself Jiraiya, you don't have that many brain cells to lose."

The mop of white hair fell to the side and Sarutobi found one small, the resignation and grief buried just underneath a glare of mock hate.

Sarutobi held out the squirming baby for Jiraiya to gingerly pick out of his arms.

"You should be alright; I don't think he's venomous"

A small bubble of dry laughter shot out from the 40 year olds throat as he tucked the blond into his chest. He stared at the small boy for a moment before stating, "We're leaving today"

The Hokage frowned in disagreement. "That's not a good idea, you shouldn't travel with a new born and you'll both be perfectly fi-"

"No. No-one else has hair like that and it's obvious he's not mine, people will start to realise. I'm not staying cooped up for three years. I have a couple of houses dotted about here and there that we can use and I think we'll both be happier away from… well, out and about anyway."

There was silence for a few moments as Jiraiya allowed Naruto to play with his index finger, pulling back when his appendage strayed a little too close to the brats mouth for his liking.

"Alright, take him out. You will receive monthly payments into your bank account and I expect you to keep in regular contact."

Jiraiya nodded lightly and stood up, moving towards the door.

"And Jiraiya?

The man stopped a foot from the door handle and half turned back towards his old mentor.

"I think it would be better for both of us if you used the window, hmmm?"

Jiraiya's eyes widened a fraction and he quickly scooted over to one of the frames lining the wall, threw it open and hopped out with a "Bye sensei!" Tossed over his shoulder.

The Hokage sighed in half amusement and half dread, signalling for one of his ANBU to close the window whilst he schooled his features and prepared himself for the dreaded encounter that was about to follow. Remembering his previous desire, he lit up his pipe and concentrated on puffing up the heavenly artefact.

* * *

**AU: Right! A new story and I haven't even finished my other two, I know but I will not be stopping any of them-they just might take me a while to finish. This one has to be done for the unfortunate SAOFan22 (see beginning) who originally got this story in motion. **

**The next chapter will skip straight to Jiraiya and Naruto's return to the village and should be spiced up with lots of ninja business. I hope you enjoy and I would be very happy for any reviews on what you think of this story so far.**


	2. Homecoming

**Homecoming** – 12 years later

Sasuke laced his fingers together and flattened out his hands, resting his head on the newly made surface. He blew out a bored sigh and rolled his eyes away from his book on the 'theory of your ninjutsu'. What the hell did he need to know the theory for anyway? It had no place on the battle field; as long as he could perform the Jutsu correctly he would be fine.

Sadly, he had his final exam in two days and the academy instructors felt that this knowledge would somehow help them through their future career.

His eyes followed a squirrel reaching for an acorn in the tree outside, for lack of anything better to do. His nightmares had woken him a few hours earlier than normal that morning and he had been unable to close his eyes again afterwards.

When he was younger, his bad dreams would cause him to wake sweating and screaming; tangled up in his sheets and unwilling to leave the safety of his bed. Now he was older he simply opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of his leased apartment until his heart stopped racing. He then wondered over to the Uchiha compound and beat out his anger on the training dummies that stood facing the river bed.

That was what he had been doing this morning from five o'clock.

At the end of his normal training routine, he had slowly made his way over to the academy to start the day properly; only realising the time when he had arrived to an empty classroom and a clock that proudly chimed 8:00.

The academy didn't start till nine…

He had spent half an hour reading up on theory he already knew off by heart and now he was stuck trying to think of something else to spend his time on.

His eyes drifted to the black board at the front of the class, still messed with diagrams from yesterday's lesson. His eyes returned to the squirrel; brows furrowing as something niggled at the forefront of his mind.

The creases in his forehead deepened as he looked back towards the board, and then disappeared as his eyes opened wide in shock.

There on the board was a very detailed drawing of the lower male anatomy, with labels such as '_gear stick'_ and '_stress balls'_.

Sasuke looked around the classroom, searching for the idiot who thought such an image was in any way _funny_… but he drew a blank. There was no one else in the room with him and neither the door nor the windows were open. The picture definitely hadn't been there when he'd walked in and he hadn't heard anybody else enter.

He calmed himself down enough to realise how suspicious this would look to a teacher, what with him being the only student for miles around. He didn't want to clean up after somebody else but he also didn't want to be blamed for such a shameless act, so he swallowed his pointless pride and approached the board.

He could barely even _look_ at the drawing, it was so embarrassing and he really didn't want to put his hand anywhere near something so vulgar (not without all of the doors and windows closed in the safety of his own flat). Nevertheless, he picked up the rubber and brushed it over the chalk.

Nothing happened.

He tried again applying slightly more pressure this time but again, he received the same result.

'_What the hell_?'

Was it not chalk? He leaned in closer to the drawing, trying to figure out what had been used to draw it by scrutinising the pattern the white strands left over the board. He reached his finger up to see if his could scratch it off with his nail.

'_Maybe –'_

With no warning, the door to his right slid open. His body froze; eyes flicking towards the newly created hole.

Iruka sensei stood in the frame with a stack of papers in his arms and a bemused look adorning his face. Sasuke's body went cold before flushing with warmth. He could feel the blood rushing to his face and he did his best to push back the blush threatening to cover his pale cheeks.

He dropped his hand to dispel the incriminating picture it presented, raised like that in front of the disgusting image that he did _not_ draw.

"Sasuke? You're here early, have you been studying?"

Iruka's eyes flickered back and forth between Sasuke and the book he had left behind on his desk.

"Do you need some chalk? I know it often helps to remember things when you write them down, the board can also help with visualisation. We still have twenty minutes left before class if you want to use it."

Iruka gave him an encouraging smile as he walked into the room and headed past Sasuke, dropping his paper stack onto his and Mizuki's desk. Sasuke didn't answer for a minute, looking back to the board and the picture that Iruka seemed to be ignoring.

'_Wha-?!'_

The board was clean, with no hint of the drawing that had previously covered its surface. Sasuke's eyes flickered across the entirety of the black board, searching for a clue as to what had become of its state. Maybe… it had been a genjutsu?

But that was impossible! Sasuke hadn't sensed any illusion within the room.

As an Uchiha he had already been given a rudimentary course in detecting genjutsu of genin level, so this couldn't be a trick from one of his classmates; even if one of them knew how to cast such a thing.

He also had not noticed anyone come or go from the room whilst he had been in there, whoever did it was on a completely different level… mid-chunin at _least. _

He hissed quietly in frustration at the reminder that he still had a long way to go before he was on the level of his brother. Turning back to his seat, he finally answered Iruka; who was now seated in front of his stack and arranging the papers into different piles.

"I'm alright just reading sensei."

* * *

Naruto chuckled to himself as he waited with Jiraiya outside the Hokage's office, awaiting the signal from the secretary that it was ok to enter. Jiraiya looked at him curiously, but he knew enough about Naruto's reactions to new places to guess near enough what had happened.

Naruto, for his part, was too immersed in his recently acquired memories to notice Jiraiya's interest; he ran through his clones actions with glee. The look on that kids face when his teacher walked in had been priceless. After weaving the genjutsu, the clone had posed as an abandoned rubber, watching with glee as the boy in the room played along perfectly. The boy reminded him of someone but he couldn't for the life of him remember who…

Naruto was honestly shocked that – not only did the student not notice him – but the teacher also didn't seem to realise he was there. Was this the level of typical Konoha ninja?

Jiraiya had told him that he would be ahead of his classmates with regards to ninja activity and brain work (he was apparently inherently too smart for his own good) but he'd thought the difference would be a lot less obvious than that.

He had had plenty of previous experiences with other ninja of course, mostly Kiri ninja who didn't like him because his Dad had been frickin' awesome, or rogue ninja that Jiraiya got into bar fights with. Naruto lost count of the number of bars Jiraiya was banned from somewhere around the 15 mark.

Not that he let that stop him of course; he just went in disguise.

Naruto had always found genjutsu a hell of a lot harder than any ninjutsu he was tasked with learning. Jiraiya said it was because he had about as much control of his chakra as a bull had of its undercarriage during mating season, whatever that meant.

Naruto knew all about _it _of course (his god-father was the biggest perv) but he didn't understand the state of mind people had to be in to do … _that._ At that point his head got rubbed so hard he thought it would split and he was told he'd grow up one day.

Such love.

At any rate, it had taken him an awful lot of control exercises to be able to weave the most complex, chakra draining illusion Jiraiya had in his vast arsenal. If he wanted to go any finer than that, he had to wear himself out pretty thoroughly. Luckily, he had been travelling and training for the whole day so he was in the perfect state for it.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as Jiraiya grabbed the top of his pony tail and dragged him through the door he hadn't even noticed being opened.

"ITAI! Get off you old perv!"

Naruto took a swipe at the ribs exposed by the elevated arm, jabbing his extended knuckle into the gap between the two most protruding bones.

Jiraiya instinctively let go of Naruto's hair, then rewarded him with a whack to his cranium; which he ducked. Before they could get any further into their impromptu spar, an intruding cough came from in front.

They both straightened up and faced the aged Hokage, sitting at a – rather empty looking – desk and covering an amused smile with an annoyed frown.

Naruto's face immediately lit up in childish joy, and he flung himself across the desk and into the old man's waiting arms.

"Jiji!"

He hugged the man for all he was worth; making up for the 2 years it had been since he had last entered Konoha. When he'd had his fill, he carefully pushed himself off the old man and climbed back over the desk, returning to stand back at Jiraiya's side as the Hokage straightened his clothes and re-composed himself.

* * *

"It's good to see you again Naruto," Hiruzen smiled warmly at his successor's hyperactive child. Over the years, it had become obvious that Naruto had inherited his mother's brash personality and cheerful exterior. To his surprise – and delight – Naruto had also shown himself to be a budding genius, just like his father.

He looked like Minato also; practically a spitting image. His eyes were a shimmering blue, though where Minato's were the lighter colour of the morning sky, Naruto's were a darker colour; as deep as the ocean surrounding their continent.

The front of Naruto's hair stuck up on the crown of his head, the rest fell down his back in layers, tied with a simple red band. The style was eerily alike to that of Jiraiya's and he could only hope that his student hadn't been teaching the blonde to use it in a similar way (those techniques were creepy).

He had three lines running down each side of his face, akin to whisker marks. Hiruzen was unsure where they had come from, whether they were due to the Kyuubi or whether they were birthmarks still remained to be seen. He honestly doubted they would ever find out either way.

He was still dressed in his ninja gear at the moment. He wore loose black trousers that were littered with pockets and held up with a brown belt that sat lopsided on his hips on his lower half. His torso was covered with a tight mesh top underneath an open half Kimono.

The Kimono was a shimmering blue, matching his eyes perfectly; it was lined with a silver trim. His belt held a sheath encasing a Tanto that Hiruzen knew hadn't been there last time.

'_I wonder when he picked that up'_

"What am I, chopped liver?"

His gaze switched to his student who was standing with his arms crossed and faking a hurt expression.

"Jiraiya? I didn't see you there! When did you get back?"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes and replied:

"You must be going blind in your old age sensei, why hasn't some punk come along and beat that hat off your head already."

"Ah, I'm afraid he's not quite old enough for it yet… are you Naruto?

He directed his question towards the young blonde, who's face lit up with a feral smile.

"Better hold onto it tight Jiji, I'll be there soon!"

Hiruzen chuckled lightly, waving his hand to settle the conversation down again.

"Yes well, until then you had best keep training. You need to pass the academy first."

Naruto grimaced at the reminder, turning his mind back to his clones antics and the lack of skill he had witnessed there.

"Do I have to? Couldn't you just take Jiraiya's word for it and promote me now?"

Hiruzen saw Jiraiya's eye brow raise at Naruto's comment. They both knew that Naruto had been looking forward to meeting the kids in the academy and passing with them, he wondered what had changed since then…

"It's the law kid," Jiraiya said, bringing his hand down to ruffle his spiky blond locks, "they gotta make sure you're well rounded enough to become a genin."

"You'll still train me when I'm a genin right? You're not just going to go straight off again?" Naruto had a strange expression on his face, almost as though he were fighting not to let his emotions show.

"I still gotta keep track of the network kid, but I'll be around for a few weeks still and I won't stay away as long as we normally do. Anyway, you'll be busy with your new team so you won't have much time to miss me."

Jiraiya finished with a superior look on his face his chest swelling up with self – import.

"Che, who would miss you?" Naruto was quick to bust him back down, but both men could see the little quirk at the corner of his mouth that showed he was happy.

"Any way," Hiruzen interrupted the brief silence that had fallen between them. "The Academy starts in 10 minutes".

He rummaged about in one of his desk drawers until he found the right scroll.

"Give this to one of your teachers – Iruka would probably be best. And behave for them please? You're only going to be there for three days."

"Hey!" Naruto held his arms up in a gesture of surrender. "I'm _far _too busy to prank anyone these days."

He grinned in such a way that took Hiruzen's breath away, as any differences between the boy before him and the fourth Hokage became practically non-existent.

He pinched the offered scroll with a wink and twirled around; waving as he disappeared out of the door.

Jiraiya slumped down into a chair when they were left alone his smile instantly dissolving into his 'business' expression.

"I want to know about that message you left in your last scroll, Jiraiya. What exactly did you mean by that?"

* * *

**AU: **Sorry for the long wait, exams are over now though so hopefully it shouldn't be so long again. I wouldn't hold your breath though, having three stories on the go at the same time is a lot to manage, and I am most invested in my other story 'When the full moon cometh'.

So I do apologise if this I don't update as often as I would like.

Anyway, Naruto's back in Konoha and has lost all enthusiasm for the academy. What on earth could happen next?

Please review, I would love to hear your thoughts on the story so far.


	3. Cheat

Chapter 3

'_102, 103… ah! 104, right.'_

He was slightly late – the door was already closed and he could hear the teacher starting on a lecture inside. Was he talking about chakra theory? How basic _were _these lessons anyway? He knew this was going to be a bit of a strange experience, as he'd never sat in a classroom before, but he hadn't known it was going to sound this boring! Perhaps he should just walk away while he still had the chance…

But he wanted to become a ninja, and to become a ninja, he had to graduate the academy. If he wanted to graduate the academy then he should at least enter the classroom. Was it possible to be bored of something you'd never tried before? He sighed and raised a hand, rapping his knuckles sharply against the wood.

Within a few seconds the door slowly crept open, the teacher multitasking as he continued to talk to the class.

'_What would he do if I were actually an enemy? He'd be slaughtered!'_

Mentally shaking his head, Naruto stared up into the face of his teacher-for-two-days and (he realised with a barely concealed grin) the same teacher who had walked in on his welcome-home prank. The brown haired academy instructor – Iruka, Jiji had told him – met him with a welcoming smile and ushered him inside.

"Ah, Yes? Are you Naruto? Come in."

Iruka had a calm voice and trusting face, he would have made a good infiltration specialist; were he so inclined. It was a shame, Naruto mused, that he had settled for being a teacher. He held out Jiji's scroll for the man to take, examining the whitened scar slashed across an otherwise perfectly tanned face as it was read through.

"You're perfectly on time – we just finished the register. Would you like to introduce yourself? And then there's a seat just over there by Hinata you can take."

Naruto glanced behind Iruka to lock eyes with the speaker – a silver haired teacher … or perhaps an assistant; he wasn't sure. The words were spoken kindly, and made Naruto feel like a child – not the ninja he would soon be. He smiled slightly nervously and nodded his head. If they were going to treat him like a child then he might as well act like one.

He could make a good infiltration specialist too. Now, how to play this…

He turned to face the class. Some students looked at him with undisguised interest – had they not been taught the benefits of hiding their emotions? Others looked bored or were asleep – Jiraiya had told him _all _about the Nara clan – and one more was simply staring out the window, not even paying attention. Ah, that was the kid from earlier – the one who hadn't even been able to sense his weakest illusion; pathetic.

"Umm, hi. I'm Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto…"

It would be interesting to see if any of them managed to work that one out.

"And…" One corner of his mouth twitched upwards. "I'm training to be a ninja of Konoha."

With that he took off up the stairs towards the aforementioned student, giving her a timid smile just as he tripped over the last step. Hearing chuckles, he blushed slightly and hurried into his seat; not missing the narrow eyed gaze that followed his short trek up the classroom. He sobered up as he reminded himself to look underneath the underneath; he wasn't likely to be the only one with a brain.

"Settle down please everyone, we don't have much time before your exam, so you all need to listen closely. Now, Chakra pathways are woven throughout your body, but they require a strong mentality to activate and use. Can anyone tell me why?"

As a few hands went up in front, Naruto groaned and rested his head on his arms. He had thought this was going to be the _fun_ job, but now he wished he'd pulled the straw for the scouting regiment or the ward cadets. What he wouldn't give to be blasting holes in the village defence system right now…

* * *

"Come on guys! Oyaji put these here over 12 years ago, there's no way we can be beaten by such outdated scribbles!"

Of course, they all new that even Jiraiya had no clue how half of Minato's seals even _worked, _let alone how to take them down. As a new wave of clones took over the brushes and ink of the recently deceased, Tojiru shook his head in despair. How could they ever beat big Daddy?

* * *

Currently, the original Naruto was walking around the town as a busty brunette he called Suki. He was popping in and out of all of the clothes shops, looking for anything of interest to both himself and his female alias. A Henge was easy to pick out if you were on guard, so Naruto preferred tangible disguises over ninjutsu.

He had sent another clone off to replace his kunai set, with special orders to try and track down the tri-pronged kunai his father had been famous for. He was certain that he'd soon complete the fourth's most famous technique – Hiraishin – but he refused to go any further without the perfect anchors to bind it to.

Jiraiya hadn't helped him at all on this project, telling Naruto that – like his dad – this was something he would have to work out on his own. He wouldn't have it any other way.

Finding a suitably revealing kimono for suki and a decent Jacket for himself, he left the shop and headed to the apartment; planning to dump the stuff and move onto some training. He was just hanging up his clothes when –

"Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in a council meeting?"

He turned around to face his Godfather, who's faced had morphed into a bored pout.

"The only interesting subject in there was _you._ And if it was that boring then I clearly didn't need to be there. Those old coots can sort out their own sewage problems, or whatever they were moaning about. You do realise you can't leave a shadow clone to take the exam for you right?"

"Well yeah, but the exam isn't for two days! I mean, they're recapping basic chakra theory. _Basic chakra theory!" _He shuddered violently. "I had better things to do thank-you-very-much."

"But you sent a clone in on your first day." Jiraiya pointed out in amusement. "You had no idea what they would be covering."

"Haven't you figured it out by now?" He lowered his voice closer and leaned towards Jiraiya, who sub-consciously copied his pose. "_I read minds." _He kept up his serious face as Jiraiya rolled his eyes.

"Well then, I guess you already saw _this _coming!" Jiraiya reached into his backpack and pulled out –

"No. No way in hell. Last time was bad enough! Your grammar is terrible!"

Jiraiya set the wad of paper aside and grabbed for his head, driving his knuckles into naturally mussed blonde locks. "I'm not bad squirt, you're just picky!"

"Geroff! Proofread your own smut, I wanna train."

Jiraiya let him go and adopted a thoughtful look, eyeing Naruto assessingly. "Weeeell… I suppose it might be time to teach you that…"

"That?" Naruto asked, only confused for a second. "Oh! You mean… really? You'll teach me? Wait… this is because you'll be going away isn't it?!"

It was Naruto's turn to pout now, as he thought about the impending separation. His Godfather had only ever left him for short periods of time in the past; a couple of week's tops! But now… now it could be months as he checked up on his network and gathered information from all four corners of the earth.

Having helped his Godfather on several occasions, Naruto knew very well how time consuming the job was. And this time he would be stuck in Konoha, forced into menial labour for pocket money.

"Oi, you know as well as I do that this is necessary. Besides, it's getting a bit dangerous out there for you, and I would hate to see my poor Godson meet his inevitable match." Jiraiya grinned, trying to lighten up the mood; although it did nothing to ease Naruto out of his funk. Giving up on talk, Jiraiya sighed and blurred into motion. The next thing Naruto knew, he was 5 stories up and soon about to make a painful reunion with the ground.

"Ack!" He twisted around and channelled chakra through his hands and feet, slapping them against the wall to slow himself down, instead of stopping immediately. When he had reached a less dangerous height he pushed off from the rough surface, flipping over and landing lightly in a crouch.

Before he could retaliate, Jiraiya was leaping past him; a cheeky smile on his face.

"Training ground 8! If you get there before me I won't make you do 500 push ups!"

Oh, it was _on_.

Instead of leaping after the old man, he created three groups of four clones. Two to go after Jiraiya and one to help him. His helpers rushed into position and he raced towards their waiting hands, letting out an invisible jet of chakra as they propelled him into the air. From there he used an imitation of the Kawarimi to boost his speed, lassoing his chakra around fixed objects as opposed to moveable matter so that – instead of using the momentum of another object to conserve chakra, he exerted more energy and continuously accelerated; resulting in a faster (but more exhaustive) mode of travel.

Jiraiya allowed this in their races because it was a good method of building chakra reserves (not that he needed them) and control (which he could always do with a bit more of).

Despite his awesome mode of travel (and the creator of unbeatable techniques like the 'Naruto Bakudan') he'd never yet beaten Jiraiya in a race. He hadn't lost hope though; his father had been faster than the old man… so he could be too!

Maybe today would be the day.


End file.
